‘Scariest thing on earth’: Abbey Clancy recalls daughter’s ‘horrific’ health scare during holiday to Portugal

Abbey Clancy has spoken about her trauma after her daughter had a health scare during a recent holiday.

The model and TV personality, 37, from Liverpool, took a trip to Portugal over the Easter break with her husband, Peter Crouch and their four children - Sophia, 12, Liberty, seven, Johnny, five and Jack, three.

Abbey described the "scariest thing on earth" as she recalled her horror when her eldest daughter Sophia became unwell with viral meningitis.

Meningitis is inflammation of the lining around your brain and spinal cord. In some cases, the virus can be life-threatening if not treated quickly.

Speaking on The Therapy Crouch podcast, Abbey said: "The school holidays have been tough.

“We got to Portugal, and Sophia was in hospital with meningitis which was just the scariest thing on earth - being in a foreign hospital, language barriers, the words like meningitis being thrown around, lumber punctures, brain scans.

“It was horrific - I felt so vulnerable - and scary. But I must say the medical care over there was just out of this world.”

The mum of four added: “These things always happen on a Sunday at one o’clock in the morning, just to add to that fear and that scariness of the situation. It can never be a normal hour.

"With Sophia, I just knew something was wrong like it wasn’t like a normal bug. I was going to Pete ‘say meningitis’, and it was. I actually couldn’t believe it.”

The former model and her husband became increasingly concerned after their other children began experiencing coughing symptoms.

"Having three babies at home, I was thinking ‘what if they catch it?’, we were on like high alert, we didn’t sleep at all."

"I was watching every child like a hawk. It was just terrifying," she explained.

Abbey said she and Peter only had around four hours of sleep in 30 hours as they spent the holiday doing shifts in the hospital.

During another episode of the podcast, Abbey revealed she has a phobia of visiting hospitals.

She recalled being unable to eat and her weight plummeting after Sophia had to have an operation for an undisclosed illness.